7 Months

You're seven months old (as of last Friday), and you are so much fun.  Your favorite thing to do right now is STAND UP.  BY YOURSELF.  You'll pull yourself up, then let go, wobble for a second, and plop back down on your bottom.

But no, listen.  Once more, with feeling.  You are STANDING UP.

Look how sweet you are in these photos.  This is you, all the time.

The last couple weeks have been good ones.  You rarely fuss.  You are pleased with everything.  You are so happy to be crawling and moving around, and I love watching you crawl toward me or your daddy with the hugest smile on your face.  You are so much fun.

When I get home at the end of the day, your face erupts with smiles.

This is an amazing age.

Your First August

I don't want to forget any of this.

This morning, you slept on my chest after nursing in bed with me.  You looked exactly as you looked as a newborn.  How many more of these early-morning nursing sessions do we have left?  I start work next week, and I won't have the same the leisure to snuggle you in bed as we both wake up.  We'll have to carve out other spaces for us to have this time.  I will miss it.

Darkness keeps me from taking a photo of you sleeping at night, so I'm having to store it up in my memory.  Each night, I steal into your room before I go to bed, and I stand next to your crib and watch you sleep.  You sleep on your side, bundled into your baby sleeping bag, a tiny bit of soft pink security blanket clutched in your arms.  Your head is such a small peanut in a great big crib.

There are times my heart constricts, like when you wake before your 4 am feeding, and I lie in bed listening to you cry in your crib, trying to put yourself back to sleep.  I am never sure if I'm doing the right thing.  Tonight I fed you at 4:15, but you were not ready for the feeding to end, and woke up shortly after I put you back in your crib.  I should have let you work it out, but you cried and cried, and I just couldn't take it anymore.  I picked you up and held you as you whimpered; I hope you could understand that I love you more than life.  You calmed when I let you nurse, and went back to sleep easily after that.

You will only be this tiny once, and already I feel this time slipping away from me.  I never want to forget the way your arms monkey around my neck when I hold you.  Or how last week you discovered you could blow raspberries into my shoulder.  Or how, when I sing to you before your naps, you watch me with huge, still eyes.  The way you light up when your daddy walks into the room.  The soft sweetness of your baby feet.  Your silk-fine hair.

You are 6 months old

Last night, you slept all night in your crib... not your carseat (as you've slept for the past six months) but your crib.  A milestone.

This past week, you began using consonants (e.g., "mamamamama") when you talk to yourself.

Yesterday, you did some big, purposeful rolling from your back to your front.

You are continuing to sit up so well, although now you're leaning forward, trying to get into crawling position.  You can't quite make it, thought, without tipping over, and so in the past week you've face-planted into sand, rocks, and hard floors.  Some crying ensues.

You are eating solid foods now (and have been for several weeks).  Peaches are your favorite, and it's amazing to watch you grab a piece of peach and stuff it into your mouth to suck out the juice and pulp.  You've also tried plums, avocado, banana, zucchini, carrots, potatoes (boiled, french fried, and mashed), pancakes, toast, oatmeal, red pepper, corn, and pasta.  Each new food is a discovery for you.

You've not been particularly happy these last few weeks.  The introduction of solids upset your tummy for a bit and led to a lot of night wakings, which grew into a nasty habit, which meant none of us were getting much sleep.  I think we may have turned a corner, though.

Your hair is getting longer and is a beautiful reddish blonde.

My beautiful girl.  You are funny and opinionated, intense and intensely smart.  I love seeing your personality emerge.

A Baby and Her Dog...

Contemplating the mysteries of the universe...

Look at you, sitting up!

Bonus photo: you, at the end of your nearly two-hour nap the other day.

This summer is going by quickly, and you're growing up so, so fast.

5 Months

Your 5-month birthday came and went so quickly that I nearly forgot to mark it.  I mean, we took some photos and said "happy 5-month birthday, love," but I haven't yet had time to write you a letter, or record anything in your baby book, or even properly reflect on these last five months.  Life these days is not quite as stressful as life during law school, but studying for the bar + taking care of you is all-consuming.  It's rare that I have a moment that I'm not with you when I'm not also studying.  There's not much time between the cracks.

Because of that, I have fleeting, sneaking fears that I'll forget all the things that I mean to record and that accumulate over the period of a week or two weeks.  You're doing something new and then, all of a sudden, that thing is no longer new and you've moved on.

Here's what you're doing now.

• You're almost sitting up by yourself.
• You are rolling around on your mat much more actively and playing with your toys much, much more intensely.
• You love crinkly plastic bags.
• You love board books - specifically, putting the corners in your mouth.
• You have an "exersaucer" and have spent lots of time playing in it.
• You chuckle when amused.
• You reach and grab for everything.
• Last week, you started waking up again once per night and getting up fairly early (no more sleeping in until 8:00)... but then last night you slept through again and went right back to sleep after eating at 5:45.  You change so rapidly.
• You love singing.
• You love dancing.
• It's so hot here right now that you get sleepy when we take walks.
• You're starting to sleep with one arm out of your swaddle.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: you are perfect.  A sweet, snuggly, warm mass of beautiful baby.  This is a wonderful time right now, and I'm lucky I get to be home to spend so much of it with you.

We are moved

The last two weeks have been filled with packing and moving, and we've been in our new house one week.

You're beautiful, my dear girl: simply beautiful.

You are reaching for everything, putting everything in your mouth.  You love books now (mostly because they look good to chew), and enjoy turning the pages and squealing at the pictures.  You reach for faces and grab for my glasses if I let you.  You are sitting up so well, with minimal assistance.

And I think you love your new house and room.

You are tremendous, and we love you every moment.